Registered nurse (Pflegefachfrau / Pflegefachmann)

Training as a Pflegefachfrau or Pflegefachmann is governed by the Nursing Professions Act (Pflegeberufegesetz, PflBG). It lasts three years full-time and at most five years part-time. It consists of classes at a nursing school and practical training, with the practical part predominating. Under the training and examination regulation it comprises at least 2,100 hours of classes and 2,500 hours of practical training. It ends with a state final examination.

The professional title is protected. Anyone who wants to call themselves Pflegefachfrau or Pflegefachmann needs a licence (section 1 PflBG). It is granted on application if the training and the state examination have been passed, there are no doubts about reliability, the person is fit to practise from a health point of view and has sufficient German. Earlier licences as a health and nursing carer or geriatric nurse (Gesundheits- und Krankenpfleger/in, Altenpfleger/in) under the old laws remain valid and at the same time count as a licence under the Nursing Professions Act.

The aim of the training is independent, comprehensive, process-oriented care for people of all ages in inpatient acute and long-term care and in outpatient care. This includes determining care needs and planning care, steering the care process, providing and documenting care, ensuring quality, and advising and instructing people and their relatives. It also includes starting life-saving immediate measures until the doctor arrives.

Some of these tasks are reserved for people with the licence: assessing care needs and planning care, organising, shaping and steering the care process, and analysing, securing and developing the quality of care (section 4 PflBG).

To distinguish the roles: additional care assistants under the Betreuungskräfte-Richtlinie of the GKV-Spitzenverband are not nursing staff. This is stated explicitly in section 2 paragraph 1 of the guideline.